In the current generation of mobile computing devices and mobile clients, the cost and power consumption of such devices are driven primarily by the visual displays. While a large display is desirable from a usability perspective, the size of the display is constrained by the practicality of the size of the mobile computing device itself, e.g., what can fit in a pocket or purse conveniently. Also, while the storage and processing capabilities of mobile computing devices are increasing rapidly, battery technology is not improving as steadily. This development gap leads to visual displays being the major drain on power in mobile computing devices. An examination of the bill of materials for a typical mobile computing device such as a smart phone illustrates that the visual display is the single most expensive component. This high cost is likely to remain into at least the near future.
With the availability of displays including television and computer monitors throughout homes and offices and the advent of new display technologies including flexible displays and projection based displays, a large number of visual displays are available to users of mobile computing devices. However, all these visual display technologies have high associated costs and significant power requirements, making any mobile computing device that houses one of these technologies less attractive from a cost and power consumption perspective. Therefore, mobile computing systems are desired that take advantage of the large variety of available visual display technologies while controlling the cost and power consumption needs of those mobile computing devices.